The next day, Administrator Yang of the school department sent me a camphor tree box and a letter. I hurriedly opened the envelope, and the letter was written in a very simple way:

Teacher Zhang:

Thank you for your concern, send this civil box flow (stay) as a souvenir, goodbye.

Rock temperature

May 1957

Although this box is very ordinary, it embodies the true feelings of foreign friends, which makes me very moved.

This wooden box has accompanied me to Puyang Province, Chuncheng, Mengbalaxi, and Wenshan County of Yuzhang Province for nearly 30 years, until 1982, when it "retired".

Yan Wen, originally surnamed Dao, because he was a little monk, later changed his surname to Yan. He was in charge of teaching his language at the special science school. The young man was only seventeen years old, studious, inquisitive, and very attentive to everything, especially individual skills and tactics. In addition to teaching, I formed a strong friendship with him, mainly on the football field.

Every day after dinner, he came to play football, sometimes a person was practicing, at the beginning he was barefoot, of course, not far, not in place, and often kicked the toe bone, I saw him play like this, a little more angry, "bear" him a few words, he cried, I felt very guilty, apologized to him, and explained why he wore shoes to play football.

He said sadly: "My family is very poor, and I have never worn shoes, and it was only after I came here that I put on such good rubber shoes, and I want to save them for my mother to wear." ”

I was sad when I heard it, and I regretted that I shouldn't bear him. He paused for a moment and continued: "My mother is too bitter, with five children, and four elder brothers were all captured by the Southern Security University of Qu State, and their lives and deaths are unknown. He continued: "I fled from the south of Qu to the north to join the people's army led by Uncle Hu, and I studied military affairs in the year before last, thanks to the help of my big brother, you treat us like brothers, and I will never forget it......."

I saw him put his hands together on his chest to express his heartfelt gratitude. So I only left myself an old pair of rubber shoes, and I gave him the other pairs of rubber shoes, and our friendship has been even deeper.

On the evening of the day he left, he suddenly came to the stadium to look for me, took me by the hand and went to a place where no one was, and whispered to me: "Big brother, we are going back to China, I don't know when I will see you again." Tears fell from my eyes as I spoke, and I felt sour.

I said, "Wait for me here." I flew back to my dormitory and gave him my sheepskin blanket and the last pair of new galoshes...... Who knew that they ---- my comrades-in-arms, and they really left that night. For the cause of the liberation of the people of Qu State, he resolutely went to the front line. More than half a century has passed, and I don't know where the others are?

In 1955, the school leadership announced an order to award military ranks to servicemen on active duty, and when we heard the news that the military rank system was about to be introduced, the whole school was boiling. I was so happy that I didn't sleep all night, and we soldiers should have a name. May 1955 was a fiery May: Labor Day, May 4, and May announced the order for the awarding of titles.

In order to do a good job in the work of conferring military ranks, and not to cause confusion and not to cause ideological contradictions such as mutual attacks among comrades, the Southwest Provincial Military Region repeatedly organized everyone to conscientiously study the spirit of the document and the relevant policies for the evaluation, and then formulated specific detailed rules for the evaluation and repeated propaganda, discussion, and study from top to bottom and from bottom to top, so as to enhance the understanding of officers and men of the great significance of implementing the military rank system, and to educate them to correctly treat their personal gains and losses, and to correctly accept the organization's evaluation and awarding of their own ranks.

During the war years, no one would remember the title of combat hero, but now it is time to evaluate the rank, but it is very important. In evaluating military ranks, we should not only look at academic qualifications but also look at actual performance, work contributions, meritorious service awards, and so on. Everyone's credit is not easy to use percentages to measure and score, which requires everyone to talk about style, take the overall situation into account, tell the truth, talk about principles, calm down, and accept everyone's and the organization's evaluation of themselves.

After more than a year of publicity, study, self-evaluation, organizational evaluation, individual declaration, organizational review, publicity and supervision, and announcement of awards, the evaluation of military titles has finally come to an end. According to the procedure, the generals are recommended for evaluation first, and then the school officers and lieutenants are recommended for evaluation.

There are three ranks of officers: general, lieutenant general, major general, colonel, colonel, lieutenant colonel, major, captain, lieutenant lieutenant, and second lieutenant.

One day in the spring of 1957, Major General Xu Qixiao, principal of the Third Infantry School, came to the school on behalf of the head of the military region to confer the rank of lieutenant. At this time, the special science school had been renamed the "Third Infantry Preparatory School".

The award ceremony was very solemn because it was the first time in the history of our army. At that time, it was battalion, company, and platoon cadres who were awarded military ranks. We wore brand-new military uniforms, shiny leather shoes on our feet, a majestic cap, a belt around our waists, epaulettes on our shoulders, and a high head and chest. After General Xu finished reading the list, the whip exploded, the military music rang out in unison, and everyone swore an oath: "Always be loyal to the party and the people!" ……”

After the meeting, there was photography, dinner, staggering, a "drunk" party rest (the wine is low-strength, like today's drink), and in the evening the films "Lenin in 1918" and "Defending Tsaritsyn" were played. Before the dinner, each person got a beautiful gilded invitation, indicating the seat number, and I keep this invitation to this day.

At that time, I was a graduate of the Military University, and according to my performance in participating in the revolution, the organization assessed my military rank as second lieutenant, rank 21, administrative 21, and a salary of 79 yuan. Silver-white epaulettes, a new twill card uniform, and a belt, quite handsome.

After the title was awarded, a standard portrait was taken of each person and stored in the file. Since then, the Military Commission has relaxed the conditions for military marriage, and we, the officers, can find a partner to marry! The military has also replaced the supply system with a salary system, which indicates that our army has embarked on a comprehensive process of regularization and modernization, and the army building has entered a new period of integration with the world's armed forces.

There are also places where you are not used to wearing a uniform every day. Everyone is dressed in uniform, epaulettes, belts, hats, the same lot, everyone should first salute the higher level when they meet, there are many officers in the barracks, and they always raise their hands to salute, and when they see a female officer who is one level higher than themselves, they must salute her first, and their hearts are a little awkward.

This is all learned from Big Brother Su Guo. Some people don't go out of the office door or room door, so as not to salute as soon as they go out, which is too cumbersome. Later, the school made it possible to wear casual clothes on campus, which eliminated these etiquettes.

Since all the Qu soldiers returned to China, the special science school was changed to the "Third Infantry Preparatory School" and directly under the management of the military region.